Study of Covid-19 - Related Ecological Habitat of College Students: A Survey
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12775/EQ.2023.021Keywords
human ecology, student youth, Covid-19, pandemic, restrictions, mental problems, depression, anxiety, academic issuesAbstract
In recent years, the interaction of people with the surrounding ecological environment has become increasingly unsafe for health, namely the person' physical and mental capabilities. This is especially true of the younger generation, like students of higher educational institutions, who have weakened immunity due to a busy study schedule, constant mental overload and stress. That is, health, as a sign of the quality of life of a student, is associated with the ecological situation and lifestyle, therefore, is one of the main concepts of human ecology. The influence of additional negative factors, such as stress and restrictions associated with the Covid-19 pandemic, greatly increases the risk of developing students' mental health problems. Unexpected isolation related to Covid-19 has caused disruption to daily routines, especially in students. The sudden change in the learning environment and limited social interactions and activities posed an unusual situation for children's developing brains. The study aim is to investigate and identify the psychological threats posed by students of different ages (under 20, between 21–25, and 26-32) in this pandemic of COVID-19. It was found that 28.0% of students were often nervous and stressed in the age group under 20, in contrast to 26.5% and 11.1% in groups 21 to 25 and over 26, respectively. In the younger group of students, 10.2% of students never felt upset, in the group of 21-25 years old - 8.3% and over 26 years old - 5.6%. It was concluded that it is mandatory to assess the student's psychological health and to plan for necessary support mechanisms, mainly during the recovery phase, because depression, stress, fear of getting infected, fear of losing a loved one, fear about getting jobs and related academic issues, disturbance in sleeping pattern, increase in duration of screen time, etc., were found to be common among students of all age groups.
References
Albrecht J.N., Werner H., Rieger N., Widmer N., Janisch D., Huber R. & Jenni O.G., 2022, Asso-ciation between homeschooling and adolescent sleep duration and health during COVID-19 pandemic high school closures. JAMA network open, 5(1): e2142100-e2142100. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.42100.
Ali A., Siddiqui A.A., Arshad M.S., Iqbal F. & Arif T.B., 2022, Effects of COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown on lifestyle and mental health of students: A retrospective study from Ka-rachi, Pakistan, [in:] Annales Médico-psychologiques, revue psychiatrique 180(6): S29-S37. Elsevier Masson.
Aristovnik A., Keržič D., Ravšelj D., Tomaževič N. & Umek L., 2020, Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on life of higher education students: A global perspective. Sustainability 12(20), 8438.
Babicka-Wirkus A., Wirkus L., Stasiak K. & Kozłowski P., 2021, University students’ strategies of coping with stress during the coronavirus pandemic: Data from Poland. PLoS One 16(7), e0255041. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0255041
Chaudhary A.P., Sonar N.S., Jamuna T., Banerjee M. & Yadav S., 2021, Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of college students in India: crosssectional web-based study. JMIRx Med. 2(3), e28158. pmid:34606521.
Collins-Warfield A.E. & Niewoehner-Green J.E., 2021, Caring for the Whole Student in Response to the Adaptive Challenge of COVID-19. NACTA Journal 65.
Coronavirus and Students, 2020, Phase 3 study Mental Health with demographics, Nov 2020, Available from: https://www.nusconnect.org.uk/resources/coronavirus-and-students-phase-3-study-mental-health-with-demographics-nov-2020.
de Oliveira Araújo F.J., de Lima L.S.A., Cidade P.I.M., Nobre C.B. & Neto M.L.R., 2020, Impact of Sars-Cov-2 and its reverberation in global higher education and mental health. Psy-chiatry Res. 288, 112977. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2020.112977. http://europepmc.org/abstract/MED/32302818
Erikson E.H., 1968, Identity youth and crisis. WW Norton, New York, 1968.
Ferren M., 2021, Social and Emotional Supports for Educators during and after the Pandemic. Center for American Progress. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED613782.pdf
Ganne P., Najeeb S., Chaitanya G., Sharma A. & Krishnappa N.C., 2021, Digital eye strain epi-demic amid COVID-19 pandemic–a cross-sectional survey. Ophthalmic epidemiology 28(4): 285-292. https://doi.org/10.1080/09286586.2020.1862243
Hewitt R., 2020, Students’ views on the impact of Coronavirus on their higher education experi-ence in 2020/21. Available from: https://www.hepi.ac.uk/wpcontent/uploads/2020/12/HEPI-Policy-Note-27-Students-views-on-the-impact-of-Coronavirus-on-their-higher-education-experience-in-2020-21-FINAL.pdf.
Hollander A., Vavasseur C.B. & Robicheaux H., 2020, A Service-Learning Approach for Faculty Development Focused on Remote Delivery of Courses during a Pandemic. Journal of Service-Learning in Higher Education 11(2): 30–44.
Holmes E.A., O'Connor R.C., Perry V.H., Tracey I., Wessely S., Arseneault L., Ballard C., Chris-tensen H., Cohen Silver R., Everall I., Ford T.,
John A., Kabir T., King K., Madan I., Michie S., Przybylski A.K., Shafran R., Sweeney A., Worthman C.M., Yardley L., Cowan K., Cope C.,
Hotopf M. & Bullmore E., 2020, Multidisciplinary research priorities for the COVID-19 pandemic: a call for action for mental health science. Lancet Psychiatry 7(6): 547–560. doi: 10.1016/S2215-0366(20)301681. http://europepmc.org/abstract/MED/32304649.
Hubble S. & Bolton P., 2020, Support for students with mental health issues in higher education in England. Parliament Briefing Paper, UK.
Kecojevic A., Basch C.H., Sullivan M. & Davi N.K., 2020, The impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on mental health of undergraduate students in New Jersey, crosssectional study. PloS One. 15(9), e0239696. pmid:32997683.
Lu P., Yang L., Wang C., Xia G., Xiang H., Chen G., ... & Guo Y., 2021, Mental health of new un-dergraduate students before and after COVID-19 in China. Scientific reports 11(1): 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-98140-3
McManus S., Bebbington P.E., Jenkins R. & Brugha T., 2016, Mental health and wellbeing in Eng-land: The adult psychiatric morbidity survey 2014. NHS Digital, 2016.
Rapanta C., Botturi L., Goodyear P., Guàrdia L. & Koole M., 2020, Online university teaching during and after the Covid-19 crisis: Refocusing teacher presence and learning activity. Postdigital Science and Education 2(3): 923–945.
Rezaei N. & Grandner M.A., 2021, Changes in sleep duration, timing, and variability during the COVID-19 pandemic: large-scale Fitbit data from 6 major US cities. Sleep Health 7(3): 303–313. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleh.2021.02.008
Shah S.G.S., Nogueras D., van Woerden H.C. & Kiparoglou V., 2020, The COVID-19 pandemic: A pandemic of lockdown loneliness and the role of digital technology. Journal of Medical Internet Research 22(11), e22287. pmid:33108313.
Son C., Hegde S., Smith A., Wang X. & Sasangohar F., 2020, Effects of COVID-19 on college students’ mental health in the United States: Interview survey study. Journal of Medical Internet Research 22(9), e21279. pmid:32805704.
Soria K.M., Horgos B. & Shenouda J.D., 2022, Disparities in college students’ financial hardships during the covid-19 pandemic. Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice, 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1080/19496591.2022.2046597
Stewart W. & Kim B.M., 2021, Commitment to academic exchanges in the age of covid-19: A case study of arrival and quarantine experiences from the republic of Korea. Journal of International Students 11(S2): 77–93. https://doi.org/10.32674/jis.v11iS2.4110
Sun Y., Lin S.Y. & Chung K.K.H., 2020, University Students’ Perceived Peer Support and Experi-enced Depressive Symptoms during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Mediating Role of Emotional Well-Being. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 17(24), 9308. pmid:33322751.
Sundarasen S., Chinna K., Kamaludin K., Nurunnabi M., Baloch G.M., Khoshaim H.B., et al., 2020, Psychological impact of COVID-19 and lockdown among university students in Malaysia: Implications and policy recommendations. International Journal of Environ-mental
Research and Public Health 17(17), 6206. pmid:32867024.
Unger K., 2007, Handbook on Supported Education: Providing Services for Students With Psychi-atric Disabilities. Book Surge Publishing, Charleston, SC.
Zhai Y. & Du X., 2020a, Addressing collegiate mental health amid COVID-19 pandemic. Psychia-try Res. 288: 113003. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113003. http://europepmc.org/abstract/MED/32315885.
Zhai Y. & Du X., 2020b, Mental health care for international Chinese students affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. Lancet Psychiatry 7(4), e22. doi: 10.1016/S2215-0366(20)30089-4. http://europepmc.org/abstract/MED/32199511
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Anatolii Hrynzovskyi, Saimah Khan, Rohan Srivastava, Abdul Rahman Khan
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Stats
Number of views and downloads: 208
Number of citations: 0